Dog adoption and cat adoption saves lives. Adopt a dog or adopt a cat and you'll have a friend for life!
Contact us, or contact another local humane society, animal shelter or SPCA.

Pets at Our Rescue Group:

Cities, Towns, and/or Counties We Serve:

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About Our
Rescue
Group:

Our Mission and Purpose

Animal Rescue of Tidewater, Inc. is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to create a compassionate community where there are no more stray, abandoned, or neglected animals and where destroying adoptable animals is no longer used as a means of population control.

ARTís mission is to improve the condition of animals through:

*Rescuing homeless animals

*Promoting humane treatment and responsible pet ownership

*Fostering compassion and respect for animals

Our History

The first meeting of ART was in January of 1999. Our members came together initially because each was involved in improving the lives of, and finding homes for, orphaned animals. Some individuals took in stray and/or unwanted animals, restored them to health as needed, and placed them in permanent homes. Others in the group focused most of their efforts on supporting local shelters like the city funded Animal Control and privately funded SPCA. We decided that we wanted to continue and enhance these diverse efforts and have done so quite well.

During our short history, ARTís impact on the community has been profound. In addition to developing a solid network of foster homes, which allowed members to rescue and adopt out an average of 23 animals per month, ART members played a pivotal role in the revision of the animal welfare laws in Norfolk. Further, ART is an approved rescue with nearly every shelter in the region and, in fact, has substantially enhanced the volunteer base at the Norfolk Animal Management Center. ARTís most recent initiative, with the help of $75,000 in grants from the Norfolk Foundation, is the formation of the Animal Welfare Coalition of Hampton Roads which includes representatives from virtually every animal service provider group in the region, and whose goal is to increase spay/neuter and quality adoptions, and to end the euthanasia of healthy, adoptable animals in Hampton Roads.

*Focus on spay/neuter as the underlying solution to animal population control

*Work to build coalitions with our animal welfare partners

*Raise funds to support our work

Come Meet our Pets:

A.R.T. Petsmart Adoption Days:Most of our dogs can be seen from 2-4pm at the Greenbrier Petsmart the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month.

Our cats are also available for showing and adoption at the Virginia Beach/S.Plaza trail Petsmart 7 days a week. ART volunteers are present on the weekend afternoons. (South Plaza Trail & Virginia Beach Blvd.)

Our Adoption Process:

All of our animals are rehabbed and socialized in foster homes, so we're usually able to give you great detail about the animals' behavior, temperament, etc. Our adoption process is like most rescue groups. First you must fill out an Adoption Application (please go to our website www,artanimals.org and fill one out online). Second we do a vet reference and personal reference check. If references are good a home visit is done. If the home visit checks out, you usually get the dog (depends on the amount of applications for that dog) and pay the adoption fee. Our fee is usually $100 for dogs and $75 for cats, our animals have already been altered, and are current on shots and heartworm preventative. Furthermore, every penny goes toward the care/rehab of the animals. Our animals are in foster homes, all over Tidewater. Let us know the animal that interests you, and we'll connect you to that foster home. If you'd like a copy of our adoption application to fill out, please email us and we'll send you one.

Our Adopted Pets:

Dog adoption and cat
adoption saves lives. Adopt
a dog or adopt a cat and you'll
have a friend for life! What is the difference between adopting a dog, adopting
a cat, adopting a kitten or adopting a puppy versus getting dogs for sale, cats
for sale, puppies for sale or kittens for sale from a dog breeder or a cat breeder?
When someone is breeding puppies or breeding kittens, they are creating new dogs
and cats who need homes. Some people are interested in a very specific breed of
dog, cat, puppy or kitten and they think the only way to find that specific breed
is to buy a dog for sale or buy a cat for sale from a puppy breeder or a kitten
breeder. Yet animal shelters are filled with dogs and cats who must find homes.
So rather than buying a dog or puppy for sale from a dog breeder or buying a cat
or kitten for sale from a cat breeder, we encourage people to adopt a dog, adopt
a cat, adopt a puppy or adopt a kitten at their local animal shelter, SPCA, humane
society or pet rescue group.